When our oldest was born there was no doubt in my mind that I was going to teach him Spanish. It was my desire to raise bilingual kids but I wasn’t prepared for the challenge. Not having any friends or family to speak Spanish with, it took more effort on my part to make that English to Spanish transition in our daily routine. If this desire was going to become a reality, I was going to have to train myself and be intentional about it.

One of the things that helped me was reading children books to my boys in Spanish. A great children’s book that is also available in Spanish is called The Kissing Hand/Un Beso en Mi Mano by Audrey Penn. It’s popular around the first days of school but the Kissing Hand can be used in many different settings: going to the doctor, sleep over at abuela’s, at night when they are afraid, etc…

This is a fun activity that I enjoyed with my son who stayed home from school because he was sick. It was also perfect with our month of focusing on love: loving one another and God’s love for us.

I didn’t have a hand shaped cookie cutter so we made one. We traced my sons hand onto cardstock and cut it out

Place your cut out, over cooked brownies or flat raw cookie dough and trace around it with a knife. I use this recipe for delicious sugar cookies.

Unwrap some chocolate Kisses and place them over the raw cookie dough and bake. Get cozy on the couch and enjoy your snack as you read The Kissing Hand with your child. Perfect to celebrate Valentine´s (Día del Amor y la Amistad), Mother´s Day or any day!

Share some Spanglish Love

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What a great idea! My son has The Kissing Hand and I think it’s probably one of my two favorite books that he owns {the other being God Gave Us You}. Such a sweet little story…I love these treats to go along with it! Would you consider sharing them here?

This is wonderful.
Both “Un beso en mi mano” and “The Kissing Hand” are in heavy rotation at our house. It’s one of those great, great stories. And I love making things in the kitchen with the kids – so many gentle lessons – and of all the kids our 3-1/2 year old is the one who loves it the most. And, he just started preschool half days. I can’t wait to do make these with him!
Thank you so much for the idea!
I would also second your statement that reading children’s books in Spanish helps the adult as well as the child. I’m not a native speaker and a lot of the vocabulary that I knew was related to my job, so I’ve learned a lot of really useful new words this way. Most importantly, it’s helped me to just feel a lot more comfortable and natural when speaking.
In fact, I’m looking forward to the time when my son knows how to read, and I can read aloud to him, or have him read things I wrote, and have him correct me! I am sure his Spanish will surpass mine, but by sharing books together we can have something that we can continue working on together in Spanish as he gets older too.

Beth, I love reading your comment esp. “but by sharing books together we can have something that we can continue working on together in Spanish as he gets older too.” I never thought of it in this way learning together.

Love this. We read that book every year before school starts…so heartwarming. Thanks so much for linking this up with Mop It Up Mondays at i should be mopping the floor last week. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
{HUGS},
kristi

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Mari is the founding editor of the Ezine, Inspired by Family Magazine, a place where we want you to feel encouraged as you join us in our journey to leave a legacy to our children and strengthen our family relationships. This is a place where you will get inspired to create, laugh and live life together. So stop by, grab a cup of cafe con leche, and get inspired.